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In terms of food, one thing that defines me is that I’m a rather healthy eater. This doesn’t mean that I torture myself by counting calories and reading food labels (I fall victim to a juicy burger or yummy desert every one in a while). But given the choice, I’ll usually choose the healthy option: whole wheat bread over white, fat-free milk over reduced fat, fish and chicken over beef and pork. Now that you know my personal preferences, hopefully you’ll understand why my mom’s blueberry oatmeal bars are one of my favorite foods, which also happens to be a great example of vernacular creativity.

I first came across this recipe on the back of an oatmeal box. However, the original recipe actually called for raisins and chocolate chips instead of blueberries. The original recipe also used ingredients such as white sugar, butter, milk, eggs, and white flour. After successfully baking my first batch of oatmeal bars with this recipe, I asked my mom if she would help me make this recipe more conducive to my liking by using “healthier ingredients”. She agreed, and after our Whole Foods run, we were ready to try out our own healthy version of the oatmeal bars. We replaced the raisins and chocolate chips with fresh blueberries; the white sugar with unrefined, organic brown sugar; regular butter with low-fat butter; reduced fat milk with fat-free milk; eggs with only egg whites; and white flour with whole wheat flour. What came out of the oven 45 minutes later was a gift from oatmeal blueberry paradise. The smell alone was heavenly goodness, but after my first bite, I knew we had discovered my new favorite healthy vernacular creation.

To this day, that blueberry oatmeal bar recipe remains one of my favorite comfort foods. In fact, last year, on more than one occasion, my mom mailed me a whole batch of blueberry oatmeal bars. Then, as soon as I got home for the Summer, that was one of the first foods she made for me. And even though school just started, I think I’ve already begun to miss those blueberry oatmeal bars—made just the way I like it.